A popular burger joint on Vancouver's North Shore is reducing its operating hours on weekdays because it can't find enough kitchen staff to stay open.
Tomahawk is famous for its burgers—it's been serving them for the past 90 years. But Charles Chamberlain, the restaurant's owner, announced in a Facebook post last week that the Tomahawk would be closing at 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday because of a shortage of workers.
"A lot of places in the industry [are] going through this. Either not open for lunch, or not open for dinner," Chamberlain told CTV News.
He considered asking his staff to work double shifts, but in the end decided he should just close instead of giving customers a sub-par meal.
He's tried looking for new employees, but so far has had no luck.
"I had four interviews, and they all met the qualifications. But when it came time to show up, none of them did," he said.
In Chamberlain's experience, a lack of workers in the hospitality industry is a common problem on the North Shore.
Ian Tostenson, president of the BC Restaurant and Food Services Association agrees.
"Everybody's competing for that labour," he said. "The issue is more people are leaving the industry than are coming into the industry. It's not like it's a bad industry."
Chamberlain says he's offering competitive wages, too. He'll offer grill cooks $18-20 per hour.
Jaasiel Santos works as a grill cook at the Tomahawk. She says the already labour intensive job is being made more difficult because she's one of the only remaining cooks.
"There's only two of us left," she said. "And when it's busy like this, you know."
Chamberlain says as soon as he can find qualified people to work in his kitchen he'll reopen for dinner on weekdays.
In the meantime, he's inviting anyone who's looking for a kitchen job to apply to the Tomahawk.
With a report from CTV's Sarah MacDonald.
